Bullet Through the Heart
by you-idjits
Summary: "It's been a long time, Mr. Moore. How are you doing?" he asks weakly. Mr. Moore stares at him, eyes wide. "How am I- how am I doing? I just found out demons exist and watched my dead daughter's boyfriend perform an exorcism! How do you think I'm doing?" Sam and Dean accidentally run into Jessica's father while on a hunt. Set mid-season 8. Sam still feels guilty for Jess's death.


It's a routine exorcism – Garth called them up last night, because they're the only hunters in the area. It may be below Dean and Sam's paygrade these days, but their job is to help people, regardless of the scale of the case.

Besides, given all the craziness going on lately with the tablets, Dean and Sam could use a little ordinary in their lives.

The only problem is that a civilian gets involved, someone in the wrong place at the wrong time. They break into the office building where the demon's holed up, get him into a Devil's Trap, and exorcise him, but not before one of the host's coworkers sees everything.

Needless to say, he's babbling gibberish and staring at his unconscious coworker like the world has ended.

Dean takes a deep breath, then goes to calm the bystander down. "Hey, dude, you okay? Listen, we're not going to hurt you."

"Your friend was possessed," Sam says, words careful and slow. "We were just helping him."

The man looks up, and when their eyes lock, Sam wonders if he knows the guy. But then he looks away and no, it must have been a trick of the light.

"Possessed."

"By a demon," adds Dean.

"That- that smoke thing, that was the demon?"

"We exorcised it," Sam says.

"And you saved James."

They glance towards the meatsuit of the demon, slumped unconscious on the ground. James. Usually they don't stick around long enough after cases to learn names.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," says Sam. "Look, we really have to go before the cops arrive. We can give you a ride, Mr…"

"Moore. Robert Moore."

And then Sam remembers how he knows this man, and his heart drops out from his chest.

Dean catches the expression on his face and quirks an eyebrow, but suddenly Sam's mouth can't form words. He can't think straight.

Sam starts to bolt for the door, but before he can, Mr. Moore says, "What did you say your names were again?"

"We didn't," says Dean, and Sam prays, _Please leave it at that, let's get out of here before he connects the dots and- _"My name's Dean, and this is my brother Sam."

Mr. Moore's head snaps up, and Sam knows it's too late. "Sam, is that you? I thought your face was familiar. Sam Winchester?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Dean has his gun out and aimed at the man's heart. "How do you know my brother?"

Sam is touched, for a moment, by his brother's protectiveness. It takes another moment for his throat to unclench and his mouth to find words. "Dean, it's okay. This is…" He winces. "This is Jess's dad."

"Jessica? As in _the_ Jessica?" Dean lowers his gun.

Sam only met Robert Moore a handful of times: Thanksgiving, once, a family dinner one Sunday in April, and before Jess went home for the summer. It's been so long since those days that Sam almost forgot the man.

"It _is_ you. Sam, I haven't seen you since…" He trails off, and Sam knows what he was about to say. _Since the funeral._

It may have been eight years since the fire, but that doesn't make Jess's death hurt any less. Sam still remembers the heat of the flames, the look on her face as she- No. He won't do this.

Still, he can't just leave Mr. Moore like this.

"It's been a long time, Mr. Moore. How are you doing?" he asks weakly.

Mr. Moore stares at him, eyes wide. "How am I- _how am I doing_? I just found out demons exist and watched my dead daughter's boyfriend perform an exorcism! How do you _think_ I'm doing?"

"Not very well, then," Dean says with a shaky laugh. "Listen, it's nice to meet you, but we've really got to-"

"Is this what you do, Sam?" he asks, eyes fixed on Sam. "You hunt demons?"

Sam wants to look away. But Robert Moore's daughter died because Sam was too stupid to save her, and so he owes the man something.

He holds the gaze. "Yes. This is my brother, Dean. We, um, work together. We fight demons, and ghosts, and some other things."

"I remember your brother," he says. "After Jessica's funeral, I saw you two leaving together. And I never saw you again, Sam. Jess loved you, and we thought you were going to be a part of our family. But you never called, never wrote, nothing. You just dropped everything and left. And now I know it was to hunt _demons_?"

"A demon killed her," Sam blurts. The words are in self-defense, but now he realizes that Mr. Moore deserves to know what happened that night. "It pinned her to the ceiling and lit her on fire. I- I tried to save her, but there was nothing I could do. Jess died because I was too slow to save her."

Robert Moore is very, very quiet.

Sam hasn't spoken of Jess in years, and he can see Dean watching him carefully. Seeing where this is going, if Sam is okay.

Sam takes another deep breath, and continues. "Dean and I, we're hunters. We were raised that way by my father. I tried to get out of the life, go to college. I fell in love with Jess. And then, after she… That's why I left. That's why I went with Dean, back to hunting. Because of what happened to her. I went to catch the demon that murdered her."

Mr. Moore looks over at the unconscious man in the Devil's Trap, then back to Sam. "Why? Why did it kill her?"

"Because of me," says Sam.

"Sam," Dean says quietly. He hates how Sam blames himself for this, he always has.

"No, Dean, it was my fault. I was stupid, I thought I could leave my past behind. That was before I knew… Mr. Moore, you have to understand, they used her to get to me. I should have seen that, I should never have gotten so attached, but with Jess… I forgot about the things chasing me, and I forgot I was putting her in danger just by being with her. I'm sorry. That can never be enough, but I am. I've been sorry every day since that fire."

It's true. He doesn't think of Jess often, not after all this time, but she's still there. He still feels the weight of her death on his shoulders, along with the deaths of so many others. He's lost so many loved ones.

He'd forgotten, in the midst of his grief, that other people would lose Jess too. He hadn't even thought to reach out to her parents.

"This demon. The one that killed my daughter. Did you kill it?"

"Yes." He's proud to say that. He avenged Jess's death. "It was acting on the orders of another, older demon, and we killed that one too. Well, Dean did."

Robert Moore nods. "Thank you."

Sam shakes his head. "You shouldn't thank me, Mr. Moore. It's my fault that Jessica…"

"No, thank you for telling me the truth. It's hard to hear, of course it is, that my daughter was just a casualty of some greater plan, but I'm glad she's at rest. Her murderers…"

"Bullet through the heart," Dean assures him.

"Bullets work on demons?"

"It was a special bullet. Reserved for the son-of-a-bitch that had Jessica killed." Sam smiles, a little sadly. "He killed my mother, too. He had it coming."

Mr. Moore sways a little on his feet, looking back at the Devil's Trap. "This is all a little much to take in. But Sam, you're one of the good guys. I don't blame you for Jessica's death."

"You should."

"It was eight years ago. The past is the past. What you're doing here… you just saved James's life. I'm sure you've saved many more in your line of work."

Sam and Dean exchange a look. They've saved the whole world, more than once. Yet it doesn't make up for Sam's mistakes.

"I'm sorry, again, about Jessica," says Sam. "I loved your daughter."

"I know." His eyes look resigned. Like he's given up being angry about Jessica's death a long time ago.

"Listen, Mr. Moore, we really do have to go," says Dean. "Sam-"

"I know," he says. That's what this life is, always moving. Barely even the time to catch up with your dead girlfriend's father. "Let's go."


End file.
